


The Heist

by Telana



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-12
Updated: 2017-08-12
Packaged: 2018-12-14 07:54:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11778702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Telana/pseuds/Telana
Summary: My half-elf Tally's adventurer origin story, basically. Because, as we all know, no adventurer is complete without a tragic backstory.





	The Heist

Jack’s been talking about he heist for months. He’s planned every aspect meticulously, down to the paths Tally should take in almost every foreseeable circumstance. Tally’d find it impressive if the stakes weren’t so high. Yet, for all his planning, it seems like they’re missing something, like they aren’t accounting for something massive. She has no idea what, but just…  _ something _ is missing.

Stash tells her not to worry about it, though Tally sees the way his brows knit together whenever he tries to tell her things will be fine. He’s older and wiser and all that other crap, so why doesn’t he just say he’s not sure? But she knows why. It’s because he  _ trusts _ Jack, doesn’t want to seem like he doubts the plan. And, like Tally, he needs the money and fast.

The morning of the heist, Tally stops by John and Erika’s, hoping to calm her nerves with some good company. The two halfling bakers wave at her eagerly and she tries to keep her smile up. They can’t know what she’s been up to, what Jack’s been planning. But Erika sees the tired lines across her brow and the dark circles under her eyes and immediately knows. She’s seen Tally drag herself up from the bottom of a bad run time and time again and would know that look anywhere.

“Don’t go doing anything stupid, Ellie,” she scolds, rushing into the back to make a strong cup of coffee. “Sarvic’d have our hides if anything happened to you.”

Tally knows. She’s seen the look in her father’s eyes when she comes home, the weary way he takes the bread from her hands or the medicine that soothes his aches, as if silently apologizing for ever having been such a burden on her. As if her own father could ever be a burden.

“You ok?” John asks in Halfling from near the brick oven. He’s been quiet this whole time, watching Tally heave herself onto a nearby stool wearily. “We can still help, if you need it. Our guy just let us know there’s a group headed out of the city in a couple days, sooner if you gotta.”

Tally shakes her head. “I’ll be fine,” she reassures him, though the sheer exhaustion in her voice probably does nothing to help. “It’s just this last time and then I’ll-”

“You keep sayin’ that and ain’t never stopped before, Ellie,” Erika calls from the back, half teasing. But only half. “I just don’t get it. We could give you a job, help look after your pa.”

“You know he wouldn’t go for that,” Tally answers with a sigh. “He’s about as stubborn as an old pack mule.”

“Aye, but he loves his daughter more than his pride,” John says, splitting dough into loaves. “He’d do it if  _ you _ asked.”

“I just,” Tally sighs, “I can’t ask him to give up the house. It means too much to him and I couldn’t just-”

“We know, Ellie. Here.” Erika brings out the coffee, with a bit of cream and plenty of sugar. Just the way Tally liked it when she was younger. Erika always remembered. “We just wish there was something we could  _ do _ to help, y’know?”

“Yeah, I gotcha,” Tally answers, blowing on the top of the still piping hot mug. “I just want to take care of dad. He’s been through too much already, what with mom vanishing and then this,” Tally throws a hand up in the air, “whatever the hell it is he’s caught. If he wasn’t so against going to the temple, I could-” she sighs.

John and Erika share worried glances and Tally knows she’s said too much. She knows how they get when she brings up Sarvic. She  _ knows. _ But she’d still gone and opened her mouth and made them give each other that _ look _ and now  _ she’s _ worried again.

But the money will help. The diamonds they’re after are worth at least twenty-five  _ thousand _ gold and, even split three ways, that would be enough to get her father the medical care he needed from one of the doctors unaffiliated with… literally any religion. Not that she could fault him, but… it’d be so much simpler if he’d just bite the bullet and let them take a look. Now she could only hope the healers outside the temple could help.

Tally downs the rest of her coffee, ignoring the way it scorches her throat on the way down, thanks John and Erika for the bread they’d set aside for her the night before, and heads straight home to check on her father.

He’s still asleep when she gets in, which she finds to be a bit of a relief. Tally pulls up a chair at his bedside and just watches over him for a while, noting the way his hair seems to have grayed so much in the past year or how his face seems so gaunt though she’s done everything she can to make sure he eats.

The rest of the day passes slowly, agonizing as Tally tries to just keep herself busy. She notes the way the tile floors have taken a brownish tinge that no amount of scrubbing will ever get out or where the walls had started to peel. Most of the decorations she remembered as a child had been sold to keep food on the table, skillfully crafted vases and paintings that had once adorned the halls long gone. It all just seemed so… empty.

_ Soon, _ she thinks.  _ Soon this will change. We’ll be able to have our home back and we’ll be able to take care of ourselves again. All I have to do is this last job. That’s it. _

When the sun is about to set, Tally checks on Sarvic one last time and sets out for the hideout where her bow and cloak are waiting. It’s a little hole in the wall near the docks, a spot the warehouse owners have been content to look the other way from (for a fee, of course). Inside, Stash is waiting. Jack, he says, is still out scoping the target one last time before they head out. Tally nods and picks a spot to lean against some crates and wait.

Waiting, she decides, is agony. The feeling of wrongness Tally’d felt earlier in the day seemed to amplify with every minute Jack is away until it’s coiled up in her stomach for good. This isn’t right. There is just  _ something _ decidedly not right about this. She’s about to get up, tell Stash  _ again _ that she’s just not sure about it when Jack pushes the curtain away with a frustrated sigh and lets himself in.

“Well?” Tally asks, a small part of her wishing he’d call it off.

“Everything’s fine,” he answers, his trademark grin somewhat strained. Liar. “Everything’s just the way I planned.” When he sees the disbelieving look on Tally’s face, he adds, “Look, kid, there might be one or two more guards than we thought and  _ sure _ they might’ve changed the rotation around a little-”

“A little?” Tally’s tone is a bit more accusatory than she’d intended and Jack jumps on it.

“Look, you need the money, dontcha?” he snaps, dropping the facade in an instant. “Ain’t no room to complain with how much this is gonna get us, kid. Besides,” he shifts his cloak aside to reveal a pair of brand new daggers, “our client sent me along with a little extra insurance.”

Stash pushes himself off the wall and comes over to inspect the daggers and lets out a long hum. His brow furrows for a moment, then he nods to Jack.

“Enchanted. Should be useful.”

“See?” Jack asks, plastering his trademark grin right back on with ease. “Nothing to worry about. With these babies,” he pats the daggers, “ain’t no one gonna find us.”

“Ok, that’s great and all but,” Tally shifts uncomfortably, “I’m not gonna be with you guys.” She doesn’t want to say it, but she looks up at Jack as if asking, ‘What about me?’

“Aw, shit, kiddo, you ain’t even gonna be in the thick of things. It’s more of the same, yeah? Shoot a couple arrows, get their attention, and run,” Jack says, as if it’s the simplest thing in the world.

“Ok, but the changed rotations? More guards? Come on,” she rolls her eyes with a frustrated huff.

Jack scratches his head for a minute and starts pacing the way he always does when he’s trying to figure something out. Stash’s brows furrow, watching Jack carefully. There’s one of two things that can happen when Jack gets like this. Either he gets a brilliant idea that smooths everything over or he gives up and goes to the tavern to get shitfaced. For the sake of their pay, Tally’s hoping for the former. For her own well-being, on the other hand, she’s silently begging for the latter.

“Alright, alright, I got somethin’,” he says when he finally stops and Tally can hear Stash’s sigh of relief. Just what is it he needs the money for? “Ok, listen. So, you know how I told you to take the back alley near Talvenn’s, right?” Tally nods. She remembers. It’s the ale house a couple streets away from the manor they’ve been staking out all week. “Ok, scratch that. You go right around the front, got it? There’s gonna be a lot of people out there tryin’ to get a good look at the esteemed ambassador as he arrives.”

Ah. She’d be able to lose the guards in the crowd.  That made a lot more sense.

“Fine. But we’d better get this over with quick. I’ve got my father to look after, you know.”

Jack gives her something of a sympathetic smile and pats Tally on the shoulder. “I gotcha, kiddo. We’ll be fine, ok? Just trust your ol’ pal for once, alright? After this, we’ll be  _ swimmin’ _ in gold.”

 

Everything seems to be going well once Tally’s in position. She’s crouched down behind the chimney on one of the smaller houses near the manor, bow strung and ready for Jack’s signal, a quick flash of light from his pocket mirror. By then, the dread curling in her stomach is just a memory, something she’s chalked up to nerves.

_ This is fine, _ she thinks.  _ Everything will be- _

A bright light shines directly in Tally’s eye and she has to stop herself from cursing out loud. Gods damn it, Jack. At least she’d seen the signal. But she’d be giving Jack an earful when everything was done, that’s for sure.

Tally nocks an arrow and draws her bow. She needs the arrow to catch someone’s attention. But where-

Ah. There’s a spot right between the two guards at the gate. It’s nicely lit, so they’ll be able to see the arrow, too. Tally looses the arrow and waits for the inevitable shouts from the gate.

A few seconds pass.

Nothing.

Tally squints to see if she can find where the arrow landed, but it’s too far to tell. No matter. She nocks another arrow and aims just a bit closer to the guards. Damn idiots aren’t even paying attention. Tally lets the arrow fly and waits again.

Finally.

There are bells ringing all over the courtyard, soldiers scurrying every which way, trying to figure out where the arrow had come from. Perfect. Tally stands, her hooded silhouette giving her position away as she fires another couple arrows into the courtyard.

“There! Up there!” one guard shouts, pointing to Tally. “After her!”

Tally grins and bows with a flourish before high-tailing it out of there. She doesn’t bother climbing down from the roof; not yet. She can keep their eyes on her if she stays up there, at least a little longer.

She’s almost past the manor when a tile under her feet gives. Tally slides down the  __ rooftop, gripping the gutters to keep from falling. But it’s costing her precious seconds. The guards are getting closer, their armor clanking in the distance. Gods damn it all, she has to let go, carry on along the alleys and try to get back on track.

Taking a deep breath, Tally lets her fingers slip. She can’t tell where the ground is, if there’s anything to break her fall, and  _ gods _ she hopes there’s something. A pile of trash, Arston, the town’s most notorious drunk, anything. Just-

She lands on the stone with a thud, slamming her hip hard against what she thinks is a loose brick. Something- ah, fuck, it hurts, damn it all, she’s hurting bad. But the guards’ shouts are getting closer, she’s gotta move. She has to-  _ damn it _ , where’s that cloak?

This is bad. Real bad. She’s gotta go, gotta get going but  _ fuck _ they’re going to see her anyway. The hell happened to that damn-

A light shines down the alley and Tally hears shouting. Fuck it. She hoists herself up on her legs and gives a little shriek at the pain.

“Fucking… fuck,” she curses under her breath. “Just… fuck!”

Tally smacks herself in the face and the sting is just enough to take her attention from her hip, just enough to let her push through the pain and break out into a run ahead of the guards. Gods help her, if they saw her face-

_ Not the fucking time, _ Tally scolds herself, darting around piles of trash.  _ After all this you can- _

“I see her! This way!”

“Fuck!”

Almost there. Just. A few more feet. Soon. Soon she’ll be there, just in front of Talvenn’s. Just around that corner.

As she rounds the corner into the crowd, Tally looks over her shoulder, just to see how far behind the guards are. When she does, she feels her blood chill.

How? How had he got so close without her hearing? Tally locks eyes with the guard for just a second before it registers that she  _ needs _ to get him away from her and fast.

Damn it, she doesn’t have a choice. She  _ has _ to get away. She has to. Tally grabs her spare dagger from her belt and rushes the guard, ducking under his sword at the last second before sinking her blade into a gap in his armor with a sickening squelch. She smells copper, hears the guard shriek in pain, and it’s almost enough to make her vomit but  _ she has to go. _

She doesn’t bother pulling the dagger out; she just runs. She runs and runs and runs, cutting through the crowd, trying to keep from puking because she can  _ still _ smell that guard’s blood-

Before she knows it, she’s hunched over in a corner of the warehouse hideout, trying desperately to wash the blood from her hands with her waterskin. Damn it all, she couldn’t stay. She’d have to find someone to watch her father, maybe John and Erika, someone-

No, this will be ok. Jack and Stash will come up with something; they always did. She’d just have to wait. Tally had done her job; she had to trust that they would do theirs and come back.

All she has to do is wait.

By midnight, Tally’s worried. They’ve been gone too long. That’s not normal, even for a risky job like this. Oh, damn it all, if they’ve been caught-

Tally freezes. If they’ve been caught, she can’t be here, waiting for them to spill about the hideout.

“Fuck.”

Before she goes, Tally does a quick sweep of the hideout for any of Jack’s hidden coin caches. She can always give them back if he makes it out, and, besides, a raid means anything left behind is going to be taken. If they don’t want it gone, she’s gotta grab it now. She takes Jack’s maps, marked with Stash’s hiding spots throughout the city, a few bags of coin she doesn’t bother to count, and another dagger to replace the one she’d left behind.

With everything she can possibly carry without raising suspicion, Tally sets out for her father’s house, keeping to the shadows as much as possible. She slips through the back door, not bothering to light a candle until she reaches her father’s bedroom.

“Hey, sorry I’m late, there was a bit of trouble with-” Tally starts to explain before she notices Sarvic’s fallen out of bed and she feels like the breath has been knocked out of her. She rushes to his side, lifts his head up in her lap. How long had he been like this?

“Lenira?”

“No, it’s me,” Tally corrects him, “Ellie. You know,” she forces a smile, “little Ellie. ‘Stop pestering the cooks, little Ellie.’”

Sarvic’s eyes open and, for a second, it looks like he understands what Tally’s saying. He lets loose a feeble sigh that sputters into a cough and Tally feels her heart sink.

“Lenira, where have you been?” he asks, almost too quiet for Tally to hear. “Our little girl is all grown, Lenira. She’s taller than me, you know.”

Tally doesn’t answer. She can’t. It’s all she can do to hold back her tears when he keeps calling her Lenira. Her mother. Why is he calling out to  _ her  _ of all people? She hasn’t been here in  _ years. _

“Lenira, I’m so sorry,” he says, his eyelids slipping closed. “I promised I would care for her but…”

“You don’t have to apologize for anything,” Tally insists. “I’ve been happy! Really!” She takes his hand in hers and, gods help her, the tears are coming and they won’t be stopped for anyone or anything. “I couldn’t have asked for a better father.”

“Ah… I’ve made you cry again,” he whispers, reaching up to wipe Tally’s tears, but his arm falls before it can reach her. “I’m always doing that…”

“N-no, you’re not.”

Sarvic’s eyes close and for a moment, Tally fears the worst. She takes his hand and holds her breath, begging whatever deities that she’s never praised before are listening when she asks for him to still be alive. A few seconds pass and, finally, she feels his pulse, weak and erratic, but  _ there. _ It’s there, he’s still alive, there’s a chance.

She keeps telling herself it’ll be fine, everything will be ok, but the tears keep pouring down her face and she can’t stop the fear from creeping up and lodging itself in the back of her throat. Tally’s shoulders shake and, damn it, she can’t keep it in. A hoarse sob escapes her and Sarvic opens his eyes just a bit.

“Lenira, a'mael, uma il- nalla,” he whispers before falling silent.

“Hey. Hey!” Tally shakes his shoulders gently, but there’s no response. She gets more and more insistent, shaking him roughly but she already knows he’s gone.

“Don’t you dare… what am I going to do without you?” she sobs, hunching over, holding him tight. “I don’t even know what I-”

Her words fail her and all Tally can do is hold her father close and hope the walls are thick enough to mask her sobs.

 

In the morning, she lifts her father’s body back into his bed and gathers her things. She’s spent a good portion of the morning just… thinking. Thinking about what her father would want for her, what she can do for herself after having stabbed the guard who saw her the night before.

_ “We can still help, if you need it.” _

_ Well, _ Tally thinks,  _ I definitely need it. _


End file.
